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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872584">Angel's Descent</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaydineRoss/pseuds/GaydineRoss'>GaydineRoss</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fortnite (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brutus is Ghost in this version, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Midas and Maya are siblings, My version of the final showdown we deserved, no beta we die like men, shakes fist at tim sweeney</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:00:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872584</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaydineRoss/pseuds/GaydineRoss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Agency is falling apart and Ghost is losing the war against Shadow. Midas is tasked with saving those he loves and completing their mission of ending The Storm. Who will survive the final battle and who will be lost to the depths?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brutus/Midas (Fortnite)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Join Me in Paradise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggy/gifts">froggy</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is more in line with the showdown we deserved that Epic were too chicken to give us. Thank you to my dude Froggy for supporting me in this work of great evil!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Where’s all the fucking yellow cards?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya frantically flicks through the pile, picking up more and more cards. There are at least ten in her hand now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who has all the yellow cards? I swear to g- oh fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>finally</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She manages to put down a measly yellow 1, and leans back against her beanbag, somewhat defeated by the experience of calling Uno and then being forced to pick up twelve cards. She watches Skye’s poker face turn to one of pure menace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe, you’re about to hate me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye takes the marker from the centre of the table and covers her wildcard with her hand as she writes, pursing her lips as she hands it Midas to stop herself from laughing. He reads it, sets it down, and glares at Skye, who is already on her second cupcake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will destroy your bloodline.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flips the card over to show everyone what Skye has subjected him to. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Stop turning things gold or draw 25.</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s rough, buddy.” Maya says, downing the last of her whisky. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did kinda bring this on yourself.” Brutus presses a small kiss to Midas’ cheek as he leans over the table to pick up his cards, being sure to turn each of them gold just to annoy Skye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas’ office is warm. It’s a summer evening outside and the last rays of sunlights are pouring through the half-drawn blinds. The cool breeze from the open window is a welcome relief to everyone, cheeks warmed up by a share of whisky and wine, Skye’s phone quietly playing music out of her backpack in the corner. Maya’s 32nd birthday was something that she insisted was not special, but that wasn’t about to prevent her little family from trying to do something special for her. On the surface, they might have been little more than colleagues; but truthfully, board games and a birthday cake was much more than what was necessary to break them down to feeling like they had normal lives. The Storm had destroyed much of what they’d had, and Skye was barely old enough to remember a lot of life before The Storm. They had all come together young, fresh-faced, and full of hope; ready to try and put the world back together to the way it was before, but that was all before they had come to the realisation that that was no longer possible. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room was still and quiet for a moment. Midas glanced at his desk, his gaze resting upon a photo they had all taken together some months prior, before they were all forced to make their decisions. Tina and Meowscles had since left them behind to join Shadow, leaving their family to feel hollow and wounded. Their mission was still to contain the storm, and learn to control it, but that didn’t stop them from hoping that perhaps, one day, those people that had once been part of that little family, might change their minds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas must’ve been caught staring because he was only pulled away from his thoughts by Brutus’ fingers gently intertwining with his, knowingly. This wasn’t the moment for them to talk about what had happened, but they were feeling the same pain. At least, that’s how Skye had described it. Skye still had that spark in her that still fuelled her youthful belief that the world could be saved, and they all loved her for it. A keen fighter and a fierce commander, she had earned her place in The Agency; but this did not stop her from being kind. She wielded good nature as a weapon, and they were all better for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You take your turns, I’m going to find vodka.” Skye said, putting her beanie on as she stood, confidently managing the walk to the door a lot better than the rest of them could have at that moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are you still going?” Brutus asked, placing down his +2. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not my fault you’re all lightweights.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door closed behind her, and all eyes were back on the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I swear she has the liver of a god, how the fuck are we being drunk under a table by a 20 year-old?” Maya placed her reverse card onto the pile, almost missing it and threatening to topple the stack with her card. Midas can’t help but laugh at his boyfriend’s misfortune as he is forced to take more cards into his hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember when we were that young? Everything felt a lot easier.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watches Brutus’ smile crease a scar that runs from his temple to near his lip. There were similar ones on the other side of his face, ones that were more recently healed and that Midas tries not to pay so much attention to. He still worried about what life was going to be like once they finally finished building The Device; but for now, they had each other to make things easier. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Salty Springs was, for the most part, abandoned during The Storm. They each had houses there, close enough for protection but separated enough to allow each other some privacy. Midas and Brutus both had their own houses, but by that point in their relationship that was more of a technicality to throw off Shadow. The sun had set, and the keys were barely out of the door before Midas let himself rest against the wall of the little entryway, hands cupping his face and carefully tracing his scars with the tips of his thumbs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do they bother you?” Brutus asked, pulling Midas’ jacket from his shoulders and haphazardly trying to place it on the hook behind him without having to break away from their kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing about you could ever bother me, my love.” Midas said, returning the favour, exhaling softly as hands moved to his waist, and lips to his collar. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabriel.” Came the muffled protest. Midas smiled to himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Other than the fact that you pour the milk in first.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“S’ not my fault you make tea the wrong way.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas laughed as he slipped away from his boyfriend along the wall, tipsily wandering over to the staircase. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I could just not let you kiss me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brutus followed him slowly, taking his hands in his. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We both know you wouldn’t be able to subject yourself to that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both began to climb the stairs, supporting each other as they ascended. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you always right?” Midas asked, keeping Brutus’ hand in his as he reached for the light switch, turning off the lights in the entryway downstairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One of us has to be.” Brutus said. He grinned sweetly, and laughed as Midas gasped dramatically and gave him an offended scowl. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that, and you’re going to keep kissing me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can do that, mio angelo.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>6 Weeks Ago</b>
</p><p>
  <span>This was supposed to have been a routine recon mission. Maya had sent Brutus and Lynx up to the mountains to check the old radio station for signs of Shadow activity. Ascend, take notes, take pictures, descend. It should’ve taken a matter of hours, maybe a day if conditions were bad, but after 24 hours of radio silence? Midas had to take matters into his own hands. They didn’t regularly traverse the mountainous regions of the island, so Midas was lucky that there was enough spare gear for him to make a reasonable trip. Maya had protested at him going alone at first, but doing anything else would’ve meant leaving The Agency vulnerable for the time being. Finally, she agreed, not that Midas had planned on waiting for her approval. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ascent was rough. The side of the mountain he had to climb was the first to lose sunlight, and a storm was beginning to build up. Luckily, he had Lynx’s trail to follow and knew the path that they should have taken. It was desolate at the top of the mountain, and Midas prayed that he would simply be able to find them inside the radio station, with or without injuries. In the back of his head he had to wonder why they hadn’t called for help. It was unlikely that there wasn’t something in the station that still worked, and Shadow had only recently been seen nearby. He pushed thoughts of the worst out of his head, and decided to hope that they had simply needed a break. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As visibility dropped and the wind picked up, Midas made it to the top of the peak. He was relieved to see that the lights were on inside the station, which at least saved him the troubling thought of getting lost in the process of trying to find it. But in the pit of his stomach, something churned; the back door to the station was swinging open, caught in the ferocious winds. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>They have to be hearing that inside, right?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Something was wrong. The power was on but there was no word, and it made no sense for them to let the cold be getting in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was supposed to be routine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas took the time to draw his pistol and turn off his torch. He slowly closed the door behind him, trying to keep the click of the lock as quiet as possible. If someone else was here, he’d rather he know first. He had no idea what he was about to face, and the rising force of his heart beating against his chest threatened to throw him off balance. His hand shook as he continued to open doors, praying that the creaking floorboards wouldn’t give him away. He was beginning to think that perhaps they had returned to base, and that they had simply left the lights on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Until he heard a dull thud come from under him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t known until this point that the station had a basement. The staircase down to it was chilling and narrow, and threatened to swallow him up as he looked to the door at the bottom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snapped when he heard a loud grunt, followed by a heavy clatter, like someone falling. Midas raced down the stairs, pistol outstretched, nearly tripping open his own boots as he pushed the door open. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sight he was met with was one of pure horror, a frozen second of terror. A hand grabs his wrist, squeezing it, and pulls the pistol from his hand. The butt of the pistol collides sharply with his stomach, knocking the air from his lungs and helping him fall to the floor as a boot stamped on the back of his knee. Those same hands hold his arms behind him, boot pressing him into the ground and threatening to dislocate his shoulder if he dares move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lynx is shaking with pain. She conscious, and lying on a table to his right, helmet discarded on the floor beneath, cracked down the centre where it was forced off her. Her eyes are swollen and black and she’s bleeding from her arm, no doubt part of an attempt to make her give up her comrades. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Directly across from Midas is Brutus. At first, Midas isn’t even sure if he’s still alive. His face is covered in so many deep cuts and bruises that he was almost unrecognisable. Blood is soaking through the sleeves of his jacket and down the backs of his hands. Brutus opens his eyes for a brief moment, just to see Midas. Midas wants to tell him that he can get them out of this alive, that everything is going to be okay and that backup is coming. But between the blood soaking into the carpet and the boot pressing into his spine, Midas knows he doesn’t have options, except pure hope. He tries his hardest to show it in his eyes, but his gaze is interrupted by a bottle being smashed over Brutus’ head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked up at the man between them to find a man that he could only describe as completely inhuman, and totally familiar to him; Chaos Agent. Every cell in Midas’ body was alight, fuelled on pure rage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to fucking kill you!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A fist seemingly comes out of nowhere, striking his face. He tastes blood as the sting of the impact lingers, but he pushes through it, hot tears building up behind his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos Agent walks calmly over to the table where Lynx is lying, and picks up a blood-soaked switchblade; an oddly earthly weapon for someone so extraterrestrial. He crouches down by Brutus, allowing them both just enough space to be able to look each other in the eyes, and know pain. Watching Chaos Agent begin to press the blade to Brutus’ temple brings out Midas’ tears; the metallic tang on his tongue is overwhelming to his senses, and the feeling in his throat of choking on acid is about to see him break. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please stop! Please!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nobody has ever heard Midas beg before. Not Brutus, not Lynx, not even Maya; but he knows that Brutus is close enough to death that this has to be worth it. Chaos Agent hesitates for a moment, keeping the knife in place, a chord struck within him by Midas’ plea. He begins to lazily drag the blade across Brutus’ face, a new stream of blood opening up on his cheek and flowing into the carpet. Midas was wailing with what strength he had left to watch, trying to bear through it as Brutus lay perfectly still, taking it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry,” says Chaos Agent, “it’s not you two I’m concerned about.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas was shaking under the grip of the Shadow henchmen, nausea building up inside him as his love lay dying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then let them go! I’m right here aren’t I?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas was speaking breathless words faster than he could think of them. His method is reckless and foolish from any other perspective, but right now he has to save his love and friend; or at the very least, buy them all more time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The switchblade clicks as it folds, and Chaos Agent places it in his pocket as he stands up to face Midas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not talking about you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas suddenly comes to the realisation that he has no idea where this is going anymore. He can’t negotiate if he doesn’t know who the hostage is. Every word is outpacing him, and not one of them makes any sense in his overheating brain, pressure climbing inside. The pressure becomes critical when Midas looks up again, and sees a revolver in Chaos Agent’s hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She,” he says, clicking the safety off of the revolver, “killed many of my men. You two will just be an example.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He can feel himself beginning to hyperventilate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please just let them go, it was on my orders; I’m the one you’re angry at.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas knows that isn’t true. Maya is the one truly in charge, but that’s a secret he has always been prepared to die with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos Agent turns, and kneels down next to Brutus’ head, pressing the little bit of life still left in him out with the barrel of the gun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then perhaps you would prefer that I kill the man you love? Who would you rather save, and who would you rather see die?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas can’t even begin to process the situation. This was a routine mission, mountain rescue at the worst, maybe; but he had nobody waiting behind him to hear him scream. If he can’t even hide the fact that he loves Brutus from this creature, he’s likely already lost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, please don’t do this.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s fully aware of the fact that both he and Chaos Agent know deep down he would much prefer to save Brutus, his love, over a dear friend. But he can’t go without trying to save both of them. Chaos Agent kneels in front of him, finally leaving Brutus alone for a moment. He laid each of the bullets out on the ground for Midas to see, only three in total, enough to kill them all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You see, in times of war, progress demands sacrifice.” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Progress demands sacrifice. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>With each word a bullet reentered its chamber. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas is truly crying now, knowing that his sacrifice might not even work. Searing heat in his lungs makes him dizzy and sick, and is half-convincing him to give up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, just kill me, let them go; you </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’m the one-” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Safety off. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really are much more pathetic than I had hoped you would be.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Abruptly he turns, firing all three bullets into Lynx’s skull. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>No!”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Everyone has a room at The Agency, whether they’re stationed there or not, whether they have their own home on the island or not, there is always a place. When Midas finds himself awake in his room, it’s late afternoon. The sun is beginning to set over the hills, the warmth of its last rays make him tired all over again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s in pain, a dull aching pain everywhere on his body, and it forces him to move slowly and mechanically, like an old machine, to stop him from crying out. There’s gauze on his cheek and bandages over his ribs. He barely remembers the events that caused him to be in so much pain; after all, watching Brutus get kicked half to death was far more- </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Brutus.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas’ eyes snap open. He has no idea what happened after his consciousness was stamped out of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a knock at the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas clutches his stomach as he clings to the wall, trying to make his way over, but the door springs open prematurely. It’s Maya.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s composed, yet at the same time she looks like she’s doing her best to hide the fact that she can’t breathe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She leans against the doorframe, arms folded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mind if I uh... sit with you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas leans on her shoulder as they both gravitate towards the couch. They don’t dare really look at each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sit side by side, staring into the coffee table as Maya placed down a small tiffin box.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skye wanted me to make sure you were eating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas has to focus on a knot in the wood of the table. The mere thought of food made him far more nauseous than he already was, and it was becoming a lot to bear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe, about what happened back there, I-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Brutus?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya glances over and reaches for his stiff palm, as much as he seems unwilling to receive comfort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your feed wasn’t jammed. I heard the whole thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh God.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know that you and Brutus were... together, I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas feels empty. There’s nothing within him that can cry anymore. He’s still trying to process what went so wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s a chance he might make it, and I know this is hard to hear right now, but the prognosis is not good, even if he does survive the night. If he gets out of this with his sight he’ll be lucky.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas feels trapped inside himself. Physically, he’s on autopilot; all while his mind is being forced into a box that keeps shrinking, pushing out sound and air and leaving only space for those images of Brutus’ pleading eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did this. If he had just tried harder to save him, this wouldn’t have happened. If he had shot first Lynx would still be alive. Anything else other than his pitiful crying would’ve made a difference. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He goes cold as he takes a breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’s Lynx?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He only pretends not to know she isn’t dead because it’s easier to ask Maya what happened that way. Maybe she made it. Sometimes people can take hits to the face. Maybe she got lucky. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“KIA.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya’s hand on his shoulder isn’t touching him. Or rather, it is, but only with a vacuum between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chaos was already gone by the time we got there.” Midas can hear the shame in her voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They should be talking about what happens next. They should be talking about the fact that the leader of Shadow is already on their island. They should be talking about how three of them almost got wiped out in one day, but this is different. Maya has lost agents under her command before, but never like this. Even during the old wars they’d never had experienced anything like this, and there was going to be a lot more of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know what you’re going to say, and this isn’t your fault.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas pulled his sister into a hug. Guilt would kill them faster than Shadow ever could if they didn’t stand by each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To Maya, this was how Midas said ‘I love you.’ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following days were hard. Brutus was a lot luckier than the medics had said he would be; he kept his sight and was healing nicely, and it was nice for Midas to not have to hide why he really insisted on spending every moment he could besides him until they both went home. Skye kept their spirits up, and Maya kept them sane. But as they all recovered, there was one person missing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meowscles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d left almost as soon as Maya had had the chance to explain what had happened to Lynx. He only spared the time necessary to find Midas and scream at him, reminding him that he should’ve tried harder to save her, and Midas could only agree with him.  </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>6 Weeks Later</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas woke up cold. The light summer breeze from the night before has turned to a chill despite the gentle rays of the morning sun. He looked over to his love, still asleep, and elected to close the window before laying back down. He pushed his dream, and his headache, to the back of his mind. He put their pillows together, took his hand in his, and finally managed to enjoy a peaceful sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He woke up some hours later to Brutus’ hand on his shoulder, tea in the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were restless last night, mio angelo. Is everything okay?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas sat up and enveloped the hot mug in his hands, one that he had managed to not accidentally turn gold. The sight of pouring rain outside only makes him more grateful for tea, milked poured in first and all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you don’t remember it.” He said, taking a long sip of the sweet liquid. He had always refrained from calling Brutus lucky, even if it were true. They weren’t lucky; they’d survived, yes, but at what cost? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to talk about it? Maya doesn’t need to know about anything you don’t want her to know.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas isn’t sure how to react. He’d much rather protect Brutus from knowing how bad things had really been, but at the same time he knew he wasn’t actually hiding anything if his dreams betrayed him. His love knew him too well for that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d rather just be grateful that I didn’t lose you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sit across from each other on their bed, free hands held together and resting on Midas’ knee. Their foreheads rest together, silently in love. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe, if I had ever only met you it would have been enough.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their day is spent sharing the couch with each other. Brutus learning Korean and Midas learning Italian. They had decided that it would be worth learning each others’ languages, and on a day when the rain only made their pile of blankets intertwined with one another more enticing. This was their time to feel human again, and neither would ever ask for anyone better to spend it with. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>the 'stop turning things gold or draw 25' thing is a soapallo reference pls no angy i use ur code in the item shop</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Vanishing Grace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maya goes to check out a distress signal, and gets a lot more than distress.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Chapter 2: Vanishing Grace</b>
</p><p>
  <b>4 Weeks Ago</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Journey: </b>
  <span>MIA</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Bushranger: </b>
  <span>MIA</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Peely: </b>
  <span>MIA</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was going to be a difficult week. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At least when Tina disappeared they’d actually known about it. It was hard to miss with all the arguing. Up until that point Maya had thought that they all believed in the same cause that they had been fighting for, but that evening it had been made clear that that wasn’t true anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m telling you, we could do a lot more good if we controlled The Storm for ourselves! Think of how we could use that kind of power!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya assertively stood up from the other side of the desk, fists planted firmly on the surface. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m telling you that that is unbelievably cruel, Tina. We can’t hang that over the world! What if something goes wrong? What if someone else gets ahold of it? Our whole mission has always been to destroy the storm and you know that!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The knock at the door did not make either of them stand down. Maya already knew that if anyone could talk sense into Tina, it would be her brother. Cautiously he poked his head around the door, only slightly afraid of his sister’s wrath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bad time?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not if you can help me make Tina understand why using The Storm against people is a horrible idea.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas walked though and gently closed the door behind him, slowly approaching them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tina, if you don’t see why that’s a bad idea, I don’t know how to help.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They watched Tina grip the edges of the desk, beginning to snap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t we all join up for the same reasons? For the good of humanity? If your device works what’s stopping us from using it the way we want?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas perched on the edge of Maya’s desk, arms folded as he sat between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s a difference between getting rid of a handful of fascists and using a fucking purple death cloud against who knows how many people? I don’t know about you but I didn’t sign up for terrorising refugees for the sake of, what? A power trip?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was an argument that had lasted well into the night, and by the end of it Midas was only glad of Tina’s proclamation that she was leaving them if for nothing else other than the fact he was mildly concerned that Maya would beat her into the ground given half a chance, though he definitely wasn’t concerned about who would win that fight. Little did they know that Tina’s outburst would be a much bigger sign of things to come than they had originally anticipated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina could be a stubborn fool sometimes, but they knew she wasn’t stupid. They expected her to simply go back to their home island, and ask to be reassigned. Hell, maybe she’d join up with Meowscles along the way. Naturally, they worried about how much she knew about the true nature of The Device, but Maya decided that she was likely to be relatively harmless. After all, none of them particularly enjoyed the thought of having to find her, nevermind any measures more extreme. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>4 Weeks Later</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei and Hansen were good men. Not only did they make good soldiers, but they made for trustworthy comrades. Maya was lucky to have them, it seemed. They made their way to weeping woods under the cover of dark, suppressed SMGs in hand, hoping for a quick entry and exit. They had hoped to find their agent hiding somewhere concealed, and without too many Shadow patrols to go through, but they couldn’t even begin to hope to be optimistic. The location they were looking for had been a lodge before The Storm, it was a large building and only had a few Shadows patrolling the grounds. They were easy to deal with, but they had very little time before someone would check on a whole team of soldiers not responding. They had to move quickly. Hansen held the locator while Osei and Maya covered him. They checked the ground floor for the earpiece, but there was no sign of it, even in the cracks in the floorboards. After all, a piece like that could always be well-hidden. They had to go up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The staircase creaked at an uncomfortable volume, but they were beginning to reach the point of it being better for them to move faster rather than quieter. As they reached the top they heard trucks pull up, and Shadows pouring into the forest. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>They had better find their agent alive. The sight they found in the upstairs bedroom was one Maya had painfully come to expect, and dread burned her stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Journey lay on her side in the middle of the room, bruised yellow and purple and bleeding heavily from a scrape on her head where a chunk of her hair had been pulled away. But that wasn’t what concerned Maya the most. Her legs were swollen and a deep red, her shoes long since discarded. One was bent at an angle that shouldn’t be possible, and as Maya slowly edged closer, she noticed that one of her heels was starting to turn black. This was bad, but it wasn’t recent. The smell of dried blood and rotting tissue clung to the air around them, creating an inescapably intense sour fog that sent Osei rushing for the bin in the corner of the room to empty his stomach, and Maya was close to joining him. Through the sounds of retching and her attempts to cover her nose with something that might mask the stench, Maya realised one critical matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a trap.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hansen looked back at her with urgency, knelt down next to Journey as he attempted to set one of her legs, though it was likely she would lose them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s no way she got up here by herself.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thunderous crack of a bullet and the sound of shattering glass sent Maya tumbling to the ground. The delayed thud of Hansen slumping backwards and hitting the floor snapped her back up, watching blood pour from a gaping hole in his helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had been spotted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya barely heard the telltale creak of the stairs through her ringing ears. She hurriedly crawled towards the door and pushed herself against the wall, gun in hand, hoping to be sure that the sniper wouldn’t see her or Osei. As the steps approached she readied herself, turning off her safety, and praying to God that she and Osei would survive this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door opens. Maya throttles the back of the soldier’s knee with her stock, sending him to the ground. Osei grabs him and pulls him into a chokehold, restraining him just long enough for him to put his pistol to his skull. The two soldiers behind him tackle her to the hard floor besides him, holding her down as one reaches for a knife. Maya kept her chin to her chest. She knew better than that. One grabbed her ponytail and pulled it hard behind her, forcing her to expose her throat and scream as the other held the cold blade to her skin. She was preparing to kick him out from under her, until they both collapsed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei threw his SMG over his shoulder and rushed to pull the two dead soldiers off of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay, ma’am?” Maya took his outstretched hand, allowing herself to be pulled up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fantastic.” She sighed, turning to look past the door. Someone else was going to come along and now they were a man down. Maya was almost ready to contemplate whether they could even get Journey and Hansen back to The Agency at all, until she was startled by something weakly grabbing at her ankle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maya?” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Holy fuck. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Journey was still breathing, barely, but nonetheless alive. She was pale and shaking, almost unable to move or look around at her comrades as Maya and Osei moved around her. Osei rolled Hansen over, pulling off his backpack and beginning to dig for medical supplies. Hansen had been a medic in the Danish army before The Storm, and had carried his skills over well; but they could only be sorry that he wasn’t there when they needed him desperately. Saving Journey was going to be a near impossible feat between the both of them without having to factor in their escape. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Journey didn’t react to Osei’s hand on her leg. It was hot and clammy, but the rest of her was cold. As kind as he wanted to be, he gently squeezed her calf, waiting for her to react; but there was nothing. Maya watched, horrified; they both looked each other dead in the eyes as a door downstairs was opened, and footsteps creaked closer to the stairs. They didn’t have time to save her here, and she didn’t have time for them to save themselves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll carry her.” Maya said, frantically stuffing the medical supplies from Hansen’s pack into her own. She pulled the spare magazines from her own belt and handed them to Osei. He leant against the door to keep it shut, anything to buy them an extra few seconds, anything to keep his comrades alive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the plan?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya gently lifted Journey’s head up, groaning as she lifted her into her arms. She watched as Osei reached behind him and unstrapped the velcro from his vest, pulling out the kevlar sheet from the pocket, and removed his belt. Slinging his gun over his shoulder he reached around Journey’s waist, Maya still holding her, and strapped the sheet to her side. It was uncomfortable and crude, but it was going to be the only thing to protect her between Osei’s front and Maya’s back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Run for the river, and pray that Jesus Christ himself shows up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei smiled wearily, and nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can do that.”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wood splinters fly from the walls of the cabin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The light of the hail of bullets blinds them as they run. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound of rushing water. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Please, God, help.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya lays Journey down on the floor of the boat, backpack resting under her head. As she turns to call to Osei she’s met with the butt of a rifle to her face. On the ground she draws her pistol but the Shadow kicks it from her grasp and into the rushing water behind her. Luckily for her, Osei is quicker than he is, and he covers her final sprint to the boat.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She starts the engine, looking upriver towards where The Agency is. But they can’t risk going out onto open water with half an army at their backs. That was the whole purpose behind the island; any target is an easy target. When Osei jumps in, she veers to the left, taking them down through the woods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have an idea!” She shouted, trying to be heard over the shouts of Shadows and the roar of the engine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To fucking take us right into hell?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya didn’t have time to doubt her decision. They just had to move. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An hour later they were in a small house at the edge of the woods. They’d managed to outrun the sights of Shadow, and sent the boat hurtling towards Slurpy Swamps with a grenade on board, minus the pin in case anyone came looking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya and Osei were still going through their medical supplies, having broken down a chair to try and set her legs, but the sepsis was too obvious. Journey would be dead before sunrise, even if by some miracle they managed to call in a medevac without being slaughtered on sight. They’d patched her wounds in silence, putting salve on her bruises and keeping her warm on the tiny bed the house contained. They had tried their best to crush up the tablet painkillers in their supplies and mix them with water for her to drink, but the few sips she could manage without choking weren’t enough to make any real difference. Maya simply took a cushion from the couch and sat on the floor at her side, running her thumb over the back of her hand; anything to provide comfort. It’s not like they could really tell her she was dying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Journey had been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past hour or so, always waking up to a narrow view of the moon and stars outside the window. They couldn’t close the curtains, it would give their position away a lot faster than leaving them open and minding where they stepped. But the outside world was making Maya distressed. They couldn’t broadcast on their own frequency without being found, and their base wasn’t even a mile away, instead they were just trapped. She and Osei had lost two out of their three guns in the fight to get to the boat and they were out of ammo for the one they didn’t lose. She leant back against the bedside table, sighing into her hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See…” Journey murmured. Maya squeezed her hand gently; it was the most she’d said in a few hours. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here, Jara.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sere.” The word was so filled with pain, Maya had to bite her tongue to stop herself from crying. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SERE.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya scrambled to her feet, and kissed the back of Journey’s hand without really thinking about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jara, you’re fucking genius.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>5 Years Ago</b>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jara, Lenora; you two are dropping last!” Captain Sullivan yelled over their headsets. The engines of the plane made hearing anything one hell of a trial, even the booming voice of their commander. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember, you all have two weeks to make it across the island and to the evac point. If you miss it, well, that’s your issue. If you actually get there, you’ll be EGO agents by the end of the month! Follow your map packs, and try not to kill each other down there!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora knew full well what she had signed up for the previous year, but that didn’t make her hate skydiving any less. Thankfully, once she made this drop she’d probably never have to do it again, and she’d at least have her partner to hold her steady. She waved to her brother at the front of the line. He waved back as he strapped his helmet on, smiling confidently as he and his partner waited for the light in the bay to turn green, signalling that they were free to jump. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You good?” Jara asked loudly, shuffling forward with Lenora as the line decreased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fantastic.” She could not have felt more the opposite as she looked down onto the huge island jungle below them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you have nothing to be afraid of!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their descent was far from nerve-wracking, but it was far from the most difficult jump they’d had to make so far. They picked a spot at the very end of the island with a shack on the beach. It wasn’t much but any supplies they could find instantly were a massive head start on everyone else. Lenora had only hyperventilated a little bit upon landing, which Jara was, as usual, very proud of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jara had always been kind to her. They had heard of and seen some partnerships become bitter rivalries on the EGO training grounds, but they had bonded especially well. She’d soothed her anxiety, and done more of the work for them both in their social aspects of becoming spies, and in return Lenora had become the quiet problem-solver. Together, they had excelled in their training, bouncing off of and learning from each other. Lenora had to wonder why Jara had never bothered to take interest in anyone on the base. She was sweet and beautiful and above all, kind. She’d watched her trade half of her very illicit weed stash to an only slightly corrupt commander in exchange for binder from the outside when Gabriel had come out only 3 weeks into basic training. She’d always saved her breakfast when she was running late from the barracks, she’d always held her when she was homesick and reminded her of how she deserved to be in EGO as much as anyone else on days when she was filled with self-doubt. Once at a party she had come over to Lenora and kissed her to save her from some weirdo, but that was just a goodwill gesture and she definitely didn’t spend days afterwards thinking about it. No. She’d had more important things to think about. Like how much she hated the amount of time they spent studying like they were students again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember, you open mine and I open yours. We get three guesses.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora snapped out of her daydream on the beach, and followed Jara into the shade of the shack where she was already pulling her map pack out of her bag. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I swear if you got given Thai we’re all fucked.” Lenora said, taking out her pack and trading it with Jara’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s why I have you, honey. You actually managed to learn all of your languages. I barely scraped a pass.”   </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They open their packs on a count of three, and Lenora tries so hard to keep a straight face at the sight she's greeted with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it Thai?” Jara asks, her face scrunching up in pain at the thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope.” Lenora gets to watch relief wash over her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ukranian?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span> for that!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s at that point that Jara drops Lenora’s pack. The papers reveal she got given Farsi, which she’s perfectly comfortable with. But it’s what’s under the papers that creates an air of silence. Something bright neon orange is under the floorboards of their tiny shack, something that definitely doesn’t belong there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re tearing this up, right?” Jara asks, and they do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a metal box, not much bigger than the average shoebox, and marked with the EGO logo. A very old EGO logo. Inside was a hunting knife, a flare gun, water purifiers, and a small metal vial that contained 4 very small white pills. The label on the vial was too faded for them to make out anything other than a sprinting stickman, but even that was enough for Lenora to fling the vial straight into the sea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sang! We might’ve needed that!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora laughed. Jara was the only person other than her brother that knew her Korean name, and she was definitely the only person that got to call her Sang. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a SERE kit, and those are expired meth pills. Trust me, you don’t wanna try them.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“SERE kit?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape.” </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Jara took her hand and smiled warmly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What would I do without you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>5 Years Later</b>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Plenty of ex-EGO islands had SERE kits hidden on them, some less obvious than others. Maya immediately turned on her torch and began scouring between the floorboards. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?” Osei asked, watching her from the couch in the corner. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Help me look for a kit, it’ll be a metal box with orange bits on the outside.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei was fortunately a lot taller than her, and briefly glanced at the small open attic space in the ceiling across from them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like that?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya turned to see where he was pointing. It was certainly a familiar sight. Osei went and brought the box down, and lo and behold, it was the same box she and Jara had seen on the island during their final trial. They opened the box on the kitchen table; a pistol, a hunting knife, paracord, matches, and a sheet of plastic. It was nothing particularly impressive, but it might be all they needed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I have an idea, ma’am.” Osei said, glancing over at Jara. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya nodded, slowly loading the gun. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s hear it.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't forget to comment and kudos!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rogue Revelations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sometimes destroying all that surrounds you is the only way to survive.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey kids please do not use what I have described to make chemical weapons I promise you they are not fun</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Maya sat on the edge of the bed, trying to help Jara drink more of the odd painkiller-water mix they had concocted. Her energy had begun to peak slightly, and she was a little more awake, but she was starting to develop a wicked fever. This was her latency period, and time was running out. Maya and Osei were now at a crossroad, and had to make a choice; hide Jara as best they could and leave her alone while they tried to call for help, or carry her with them. Both options had extreme flaws, and neither even dare speak of the third option: kill her now while she was still comfortable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can carry her, but it won’t be easy.” Osei said, pulling the old washer out of the wall and unhooking the mains. The back came off easily, and he began to use his knife to unscrew one of the pipes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could try going up the tower and coming back on the way down, but we’ll be noticed the second we make a broadcast on a public frequency, and that’s if the shit up there still works.” Maya was feeling less than confident. They had no idea how large the group outside was, or how far they’d have to run in order to meet backup. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just… kill me and run.” Jara breathed labouriously. Maya sat on the floor next to her hand, smiling ever so slightly as she felt Jara’s hand thread through her hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not happening. We’re getting you out of here.” Maya said. “I have to see you make it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jara smiled, looking back up at the stars through the window above her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you always so cute when you’re being stubborn?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei looked over at the two of them, and nodded to Maya, picking up the parts of the machine he was pulling apart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna… check the garage for bleach and nails.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya didn’t ask, but she was grateful that he was giving them a moment alone. She sighs, and moves back up to sitting on the edge of the bed, taking Jara’s hand, but unable to look at her as gravel guilt piled high in her stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t tell me… you’re only just noticing.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya is ready to cry, the pain in Jara’s voice is too much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t take notice because I didn’t know how to say what I meant.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jara can only smile weakly, the bruises on her face are making it difficult for her to do so at all; but the beautiful shade of moonlight on the woman next to her makes the pain worth it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was… starting to worry… that I was reading you wrong.” Jara tries to laugh, but it turns into an excruciating cough. Maya gently rubs a warm hand on her chest to sooth her, which Jara shakily places her own hand over. Maya doesn’t move, and instead uses her other hand to sooth her lungs again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You? Reading someone wrong? Hilarious.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean, I definitely... didn’t expect Brutus to... have gone to art school, that was definitely a surprise.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minutes pass, but they don’t move. Maya’s heart is only concerned with making sure that every minute she can spend with Jara now, is spent together. The outside threatens to separate them, just as much as it threatens to end them come sunrise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lenora?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya is jolted from her mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have I failed you? Are we… are we losing?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya has no idea how to answer. Shadow has begun to plague the island in a matter of weeks, and all while The Device is nearly ready. It’s not a coincidence that Shadow is eating them alive, but she doesn’t know how to tell Jara in what are probably her final hours. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jara, there is nothing you could ever have done to make me think for even a second that you were anything other than wonderfully brave and loyal. You have never failed me and you never will.” She kisses the back of Jara’s hand, their eyes meeting through the waves of water rising in Maya’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m dying aren’t I?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya is almost sick right there. She is a commander, a leader of Ghost, and an immovable mountain in battle. But the face of this extraordinary mountaineer threatens to break her down with the reality that faces them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most likely.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A single tear falls, rolling down Maya’s cheek. Jara tries to lift her hand to her cheek to catch it, but fails to lift her hand more than an inch. Maya holds the back of her hand, supporting her gently, and helps to hold her hand to her cheek. Jara wipes the tear away with her thumb, smiling as they are both bathed in the light of the stars. As much as it hurts her, she manages to raise her head from the pillow, and Maya feels herself slip into an enchanting dreamworld as she lets Jara pull her closer. Their breaths meet, lips lingering for a short second- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to go, Shadow guys outside are changing shift.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya wants to scream a little, but she shakes off the feeling and pulls away from Jara, standing to face Osei. He’s holding the pistol with an extremely crude suppressor made from piping and cushion stuffing, with a large jar under his arm and a cushion case full of old beer bottles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks like you’ve upped our arsenal.” Maya says before pointing to the large jar. “What is that?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a second smaller jar inside the one under his arm, with a small rock stuffed between them and two clear liquids in each. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know this is- unconventional, ma’am,” Maya was already anxious about where this was going, “it’s a chlorine gas bomb.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya was numb at this point. She wanted to get them all back to base and out of the literal woods, and normally she would’ve called the use of a chemical weapon any number of things, but right now she didn’t have the energy to care. All she could do was pat a hand against his shoulder and take the gun that was offered to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good man.”   </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei and Maya lifted Jara from the bed and onto the couch, and tore up the dusty bedsheet to create something that vaguely resembled a giant sling so that Jara would be better supported by whomever was carrying her. It also meant she wouldn’t get hit by passing foliage, but it was completely white, and they would be seen easily with it. They decided that Osei would carry Jara for the journey up the tower, and Maya would carry her back down; and they would switch to the evac zone as necessary. Jara was now burning up. Her clothes were starting to soak through with sweat and she was becoming paler by the minute. They were running out of time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei estimated that Maya had about three shots with his improvised suppressor, but even those shots would still be relatively loud, so the pistol was a last resort. It had rained while they were inside, and wetter ground meant less noise in the forest. Maya crouched as she walked, always bearing her hunting knife as she approached wandering Shadows. Jaya watched wearily from Osei’s arms as Maya pulled them one by one to the ground, slitting their throats and dragging them into the bushes, and she smiled. The radio tower was heavily guarded at the base, leaving them no choice but to hide in a ditch and wait for them to congregate closer together by the stairs. Maya retrieved the gas trap from her backpack, and hurled it at the group. It shattered against the tower, covering the Shadows nearest to it with broken glass, and moments later the coughing began. Maya had expected most of them to scream, but as the musty yellow cloud wafted over the little hill she watched the men begin to hack up their lungs so violently they didn’t have the chance to scream. They clawed at their hands and faces as the gas burned their skin and inflamed their eyes, and Maya watched as some tried to crawl out of the way and down the hill, only to fall and roll to the bottom as their lungs collapsed and turned to foam in their mouths. As the toxic cloud dissipated she moved in, her scarf soaked in a liquid that Osei had poured from a jar, but refused to define. No matter, it protected her for as long as she needed to put the remaining handful out of their misery. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sprinted to the top of the tower, making a quick prayer for herself as the radio she had practically punched on whirred into life. It was an extremely old model, one she hadn’t seen before, but she made a guess at her frequency, and decided to broadcast publicly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sleeping Beauty this is Anthem, do you re-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The radio was shot out from under her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t actually expect you to be stupid enough to come here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya could only roll her eyes, more out of exhaustion than annoyance. The sun was beginning to rise on the other side of the island, and she had run out of time to do this cleanly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I had hoped </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> wouldn’t be crazy enough to join Shadow.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina’s new black and silver uniform certainly suited her personality, Maya thought. More bitter. She already had her hands raised in response to Tina’s pistol, her own pistol upside down in one hand, outstretched to her, waiting for her to take it. Tina did; they’d all had the same training when it came to taking prisoners. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Jara?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina could only smirk and shake her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You finally got a clue, huh? She’s fine, she’s downstairs.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya definitely didn’t trust her with that. How oblivious had she really been, anyway?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just let her and Osei go and I’ll go along with whatever fucked up shit I assume you have planned in your head.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina threw Maya’s pistol out of the window, and holstered her own, moving slowly in a circle against her. Now she was really laughing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do still have balls, don’t you? I’ll give you that, Maya. Making an ask like that is pretty fucking big, even by your standards. But I can’t do that; after all, you’ve got nothing to bargain with.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My bargain is not throwing you off this fucking tower right now.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina stopped moving and slowly began to close the gap between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think my men aren’t on their way here right now? All I have to do is buy some time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Osei had been too far behind Maya to warn her. He’d watched Tina run up the steps behind her, but couldn’t run with Jara fast enough. He elected to stay below the tower, given that any fighting in the room at the top would be too close quarters for comfort if Jara was up there, not to mention that Tina would likely use her against Maya, if not worse. He jumped, startling Jara as Maya’s pistol fell to the ground right besides them.  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The suppressor was still in good shape, and Maya had left her backpack in the ditch with them. The sounds of breaking glass and beating wood were not helping to restrain his brain from his ideas. He had to assume that Maya hadn’t gotten a message through, and now he had to improvise. He opened the backpack and retrieved one of the bottles. He ripped a rag he had torn from a cushion, and began to let it soak in the neck of the bottle. He only had ten matches, so was really going to have to hit his shots. Standing up from the ditch, he lit the rag, aimed for the tree across from the tower. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please, God, let this not get us all fucking killed.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I said, I don’t want to fight you.” Maya blocked another kick, making Tina drop back to the floor again. She was still nursing her bloody nose, some absorbed by her black shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think I’m just going to let you walk away, after everything you’ve done?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya was as irritated now as she was anxious. Her head was pounding and her shoulders were heavy, she wanted to get down from the tower and get the fuck out of the forest. Nothing that had ever happened between her and Tina was particularly personal, and the fact that she felt this strongly about Maya all because she couldn’t understand why it was for the best that The Storm be destroyed was nothing more painful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you are.” Maya said, kicking her back to the floor with her with the heel of her boot as Tina tried to pull herself up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Walking over to the door she smelled smoke, and opened the door only to be faced with a burst of heat and a horizon of burning trees. Now she was even more stressed than before. She couldn’t jump from this height, not without shattering her ankles at the absolute least. She had no idea if the tower was on fire or not, and she didn’t feel like stepping outside again to try and find out. A loud storm of bullets sounded outside, flaring her senses as branches began to crackle and break under the flames. Jara and Osei were definitely in trouble, and now she had no way of getting to them without also having to worry about being chased by Tina. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sharp jolt sent her flying to the floor, and crashing into Tina. The tower was hanging at an angle, slanting down in one corner as the pillars burnt up and began to collapse. She hauled herself up, desperately trying to reach one of the broken window panes at the tallest side of the room to hold onto if it collapsed, only to be pulled back by her ankle. She kicked at Tina’s wrists, pulling herself up and running for the pane. She thought she’d made it, grabbing it just as a snap from the other side sent a jolt through her. Smoke was beginning to come through the opposite windows now, and it was starting to sting her throat. Maya began to grip the pane tighter, knocking some remaining glass out with her elbow, until Tina emerged from the billowing smoke and forced her out of the window and onto the staircase below. The impact winded Maya, beating the air from her lungs and leaving her desperate for air as the inferno surrounding them burnt away at the oxygen. They were both breathless, and in pain. Tina was staggering down from the flight above her, stumbling and struggling to keep her balance as the tower swayed. They had to get off the stairs whether Tina liked it or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A thundering roar from overhead rattled the frame of the tower as the flames on the pillars above began to envelope the cabin at the top, and the shockwaves of that helicopter engine forced them to grip the banister for dear life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Until the final pillar snapped and gave way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hot ash began to hale down upon them. The cabin crashed to the floor with a heavy groan, leaving a hole in the canopy for flames to lick through, and brought rich rays of morning sunlight down like the gaze of God washing over them. Singed leaves fell slowly, abandoning their trees and peacefully descending on the forest like a hellish rain. Maya’s face was hot, too hot, and the thin air was making her dizzier. The cracks of gunfire continued to sound like bells, ringing in their execution, the death of the forest. Her wary mind lept to Jara as she tried to stand up again, beautiful spirit, beautiful mind. She felt the blood rushing from her hammering heart to her fingertips as time slowed in the forest, and Tina lunged at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya failed to hold onto the banister. She fell backwards against the support pillar below her and her mind momentarily snapped in two, sparking and firing her throat for the almighty scream she let out. Though she screamed, she could barely acknowledge her brain’s pain signals. Instinctively she placed her hand on her back, and froze as her hand halted on the piece of wood that was wedged in just below her stomach. The heat around her was so torrid her blood on her hand almost felt cold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Tina came for her again, Maya had had enough. She just wanted to go home. Tina, foolishly, had decided to simply go in for an easy punch; and it was the perfect opportunity for Maya to simply grab her hair, and simply strike her face against the pillar with an almost inaudible thud, and leave her slumped against the stairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The climb down the stairs was visceral. Blood and ash were on the tip of Maya’s tongue, and she found herself barely walking in the push where Osei and Jara were waiting for her. A Ghost medevac chopper was just meters away at the edge of the forest, waiting for them on the open plain by the lumber mill. Their agents were busy returning fire, searching for any sign of them and trying to hold back the overwhelming Shadow numbers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ma’am,” Osei began, “we have to get to the chopper!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trees were crashing down around them, branches collapsing to the forest floor in heaps. Osei tried not to bring attention to Maya’s wound, his arm had a deep bullet graze and his legs were burnt through the fabric from running on hot ash and burning earth. They would all die here if they didn’t move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You go,” she said, worryingly breathlessly, “I’m right behind you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maya,” Jara said, unable to open her eyes to look at her. More of her leg was black and her dressings were signed. Maya could no longer marvel out her outlasting strength, they were all at the end of the line. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya clutched her side, and leant down with a fist on the ground to support herself, and put all but her last drop of energy into what might be her last and only chance to kiss Jara. Jara barely had the energy to kiss back, but everything she gave Maya made every millisecond sweeter, and gave each other an ounce of delicate air to breathe. As Maya finally forced herself to pull her lips away, she nodded, helping Osei up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei ran as best he could from the bush, screaming something inaudible across the plain to the medevac crew. He kept his arm around Jara’s head, swaying her with his sprint to try and protect her from the barrage of bullets. Maya followed behind, half running, half stumbling. She watched through the haze as the helicopter powered up, and the medics lifted Osei and Jara aboard. She watched them hover above the ground, their waves blurring in her vision. Her weight seemed to shift so suddenly, knocking her about from one side to the other, disorientating her as blood soaked in her trouser leg and gave her the feeling of being weighed down at her feet; and then her knees, and her front and face. Everything in her body pulled her deeper into the dirt, tarring her vision in black. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei woke up several hours later with his legs covered in dressings and a nurse putting a needle in his arm. He didn’t have the energy to be alarmed, and simply closed his eyes again. He wasn’t in pain, and could barely think to be so. For a moment, his exhausted gaze diverted to the bed next to him in the big white room. Jara was asleep, her legs were wrapped in large dressings that ended right below her knees, and started in the middle of her thighs. She was still deathly pale and sweating, and a small army of nurses surrounded her. Her head had been shaved, leaving only light pink stubble around the dressings. Her eyes were sunken and greyish, her lips only a shade off of blue. But, she was alive, and Osei went back to sleep, knowing he had completed his mission. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't forget to comment and kudos! Thank you for your reception so far!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Coup de Grâce</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Radio silence from Anthem.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know this one is a short one but trust me it's for good reason</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hey you, you’re finally awake.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya stared at the ceiling above her. She was definitely awake, and alive, but by God she did not want to be conscious right now. She at least wanted to get up and run away, but she could already feel the cold metal on her wrists, and it was better for her to save her energy than to waste it struggling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck off.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? Is that the way to speak to someone that just saved your life?” Tina said, picking up her chair and dragging it closer to Maya’s bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you, the only saving you did was of your own ass, that’s if you weren’t too busy trying to find your head up there.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina laughed, and it reverberated uncomfortably in the large empty room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re so lucky I don’t get to kill you right now.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a shame, isn’t it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya heard the heavy metal door behind her open and close, and though she didn’t hear any footsteps, she did sense the presence of the person walking towards her. As he approached, Tina immediately got up, and left the room; this time with real footsteps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The figure that loomed over the side of Maya’s bed was exactly whom she’d expected. Chaos Agent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good evening, Lenora.” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Well fuck. </span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“How about we just skip to the part where you dismember me or whatever sick shit it is you do?” She asked, not gracing him with her eyes in his direction. He sat in the chair besides her, hands folded patiently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see you’re familiar with my handiwork.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bit hard to miss something you’ve carved into someone’s face, yes.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She watched from the corner of her eye as he silently began to twirl a switchblade, the same switchblade she’d found stabbed into Lynx’s corpse. She had no idea if it was the same one or if he just had several copies, and she certainly didn’t feel like finding out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going to kill you, Lenora.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t I believe you, I wonder?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I only plan to trade you. It’s very simple. I have you, your brother has The Device, and I’m sure he wouldn’t want to see his darling sister dead, hmm?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya wanted to laugh. A trade like that was of ridiculous proportions. The Device would save millions of lives, she was just one single spymaster, as much as they loved each other she was not worth The Device itself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I’m all you’ve got to bargain with you must be </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> desperate.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew The Device was days away from completion, and she knew that Chaos Agent must know that as well. But he simply leaned over the edge of the chair, and slowly dragged the tip of the dagger along her cheek, her eyes reflecting in the black lenses of his mask. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that’s what you believe, I’m sure we can find a way to… persuade Gabriel.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Osei was up and walking, somewhat, he was still confined to the medical wing, but he didn’t mind being there with Jara. Now they were both on a first name basis, and they were both equally concerned about Maya. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elinam?” Jara asked. “Do you think you’ll go straight back to the fight once they discharge you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had both heard chatter from the nurses around them in the past few days that there was a huge Shadow blockade surrounding the island, with talks of huge barricades and heavy artillery turning up day by day. But they’d heard nothing of Maya. If Maya were dead Shadow would make that </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> public, and they had hope that they could still fight for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to, you can’t fight, and Maya still needs us, so I will fight for both of us.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jara’s legs had been amputated with maybe minutes to spare. Even then, the doctors on the ward had been very open about their belief that she still wouldn’t survive, and yet she persisted. Her willingness to see Maya alive again had fuelled her spirit to keep fighting. But all they could now, was wait. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The first report Midas had received about Maya, after his debrief with Jara and Osei, was a sighting from a drone of her in a Shadow vehicle. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was confirmation she was alive. Midas dreaded the confrontation he knew was about to go down. Shadow would demand something from him about The Device, in exchange for his sister. This was a decision he had prayed all his life to never have to make. She was worth more to him than the world, but this was not about him, and he would only become a proxy for the decisions of the world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sure enough, that very evening, a Shadow boat crossed the water, expressly to deliver a message. Midas took the letter to Maya’s office, where Skye and Brutus were already waiting for him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>I ask only for a very simple exchange.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>Unwavered control of The Device, in exchange for Lenora Beatrice Kim’s life.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>Failure to comply will result in the use of force. </b>
</p><p>
  <b>You have until noon tomorrow to present your response.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re not just going to let them kill Maya, right?” Skye asked nervously, breaking several moments of silence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re going to have to just hope that if they do bombard us they won’t kill her in the process. She’s all they’ve really got, right? They’ll try to bargain with her again at some point and we’ll know better how to save her then.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas wanted to say so desperately that he agreed with his love. Brutus was, really, right. But he couldn’t be willing to gamble his sister’s life or the security of the key to eradicating The Storm on the basis of a tactical assumption. He had to do what he believed in because this was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maya</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Except, they both saw the look in his eye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t fucking tell me you’re actually considering giving up The Device, Gabe?” Skye was almost alarmed, but far more disgusted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he stopped himself, and lowered his voice, “I’m not. I just want to chose the option that gives us the best outcome. We have to figure out how we can take out Chaos without immediately getting ripped to shreds.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t even know that he’ll make an appearance!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brutus smirked, taking Midas’ hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, he’ll be there alright. He’s… theatrical.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The sun failed to rise to noon that morning without Jara and Osei knowing. There were no windows in the medical wing, and they had no reason to believe that anything more than rumours were being talked about about some ‘negotiation’. Ghost troops lined the shores of the islands with bullet shields and rifles, creating a crescent in front of the entrance where the exchange was supposed to take place. The sun was replaced by brewing clouds, and the faint smell of smoke still lingered in the air when the wind blew in from Weeping Woods. As Midas stood on the plinth, waiting for Chaos Agent to show, he went over their plan in his head; shoot Chaos at the best opportunity, hope they don’t kill Maya, and retreat to fight when Shadow finds itself without a leader. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all they could be prepared to do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas kept his rosary in his pocket, one that Maya had given him upon coming out, and prayed that he would be able to do his duty. He had walked past Skye’s office that morning, and watched her rocking gently on her feet, siddur in hand, tefillin and tallit around her. It was a rare sight, but one he hoped would strengthen them for the battle that was ahead of them. He had been unable to accept Brutus’ embrace all morning, everything made him jump and unnerved, and most of all he felt that he didn’t deserve it. This was all he was capable of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The clock struck twelve, and Chaos Agent materialised amongst his line of troops on a parapet, without the bulk of protection necessary to Midas. Besides him stood Meowscles, who held Maya. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maya</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her black eye and split lip were still obvious to him from across the water, and the way she held herself to him she was in immense pain. Shadow had patched her wound, but it was crude and uncomfortable and the shard had no doubt caused some great amount of irrevocable damage. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Death before dishonour. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a phrase that Midas had heard many times, but had not truly considered it until now, as he turned it over in his head like an old coin. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Death before dishonour. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would have thought that you of all people would value the life of your sister, Midas, so I have to say that this isn’t a look I expected from you. I’m sure she’s disappointed that you would be so... dishonourable, but perhaps we can come to something more agreeable. You need only had over The Device, and I will spare Maya’s life, if not... well,” Chaos Agent’s voice boomed with an inhuman rasp as the deep purple storm clouds threatened to force them to shout their demands to each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it possible that I will have to apply a little… pressure?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas watched as Maya visibly grimaced; Meowscles was digging a finger into her side, pressing down above her wound. This is already humiliating to her, but she still looks up at her brother as much as the pain will allow her to. The wind is picking up, and the storm clouds are making it much colder. The waters begin to show white, and the air turns bitter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas tenses up all over, forcing himself not to shake, clamping his arms against his sides and digging his heels into the ground. He prepared himself to reach for his holster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” he says, almost sounding as though he might accept defeat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve made up my mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos Agent’s fingertips meet, bottomless droplets of black liquid slowly trickling out from under his gloves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good, I knew you wouldn’t dare dishonour your sister in such a way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas smiles. Not for him, but for his sister.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He quickly reaches for his pistol, drawing it to Chaos Agent’s head, freezing as every Shadow barrel immediately turns to him. Chaos Agent stands still, unwavering and expressionless, like a pure dare. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas’s eyes meet Maya’s, pleading with him, and he feels his heart begin to turn to heavy stone. He turns the safety off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Death before dishonour.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gunshot echoes through the valley. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maya falls to the ground. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't forget to comment and kudos if you want to read more!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Tortured Metal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I promise I'm going back to the proper long chapters soon lmao</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>4 Days Ago</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas had every right to be scared. A simple recon mission had become a bloodbath so quickly, why shouldn’t he be anxious about his sister going off into the woods in the middle of the night? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There had been a distress call. Smashing an Agency earpiece would send an SOS straight to the main comms hub, and given how many agents were suddenly going missing across the island, the chance at getting even one of them back couldn’t be missed. That being said, the likelihood of the distress call being a trap was also increasing. Maya had promised to take two of their best troops with her, detailing her plan to follow the lead as cleanly and as quietly as possible. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Midas?” She sternly called from her office. Even after all these years, it was still a little strange to hear from her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas watched from the doorway for a moment, leaning against the frame. Maya was tightening the straps on her vest, staring at herself in the mirror in the corner of her office as she contemplated the impossible conversation she was about to have. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We need to talk.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He closed the door. Hearing the phrase ‘we need to talk’ is rarely a good thing for anyone, let alone Midas. He walked over to her desk slowly, somehow afraid of making too much noise in a footstep and shattering the fragile air around them, like they were breathing glass. He loosened his tie a little, trying to alleviate the discomfort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya sat on the desk next to him, looking into her folded arms, terrified of having to actually face her younger brother with her request. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabriel, I need to trust that you can kill me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His face runs cold. His shoulders seize up, jamming like a cursed machine that can sense urgency, every part of him freezing, save for his fingertips that tap anxiously against his palm. He knows perfectly well what Maya needs from him, but he wants to refuse her request by any means. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe, do you need me to clarify? Or do you simply not have the will?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya stands, and moves to the wall across from him, forcing him to look at her. The tip of her boot taps against the floor impatiently. She saw right through him, like a thin piece of silk, and in that moment he felt just as delicate and just as likely to crumple to the floor in an inelegant heap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I won’t do it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are no simple missions anymore. It doesn’t matter how well they plan their routes or how many contingencies they have. Shadow is out in droves on their island and how many there is no longer their concern because, clearly, they know more about Ghost than Ghost does. Anyone who ventures outside the walls of The Agency now has to really think about the fact their chances of coming home are diminishing. Chaos Agent knew more about Midas than his own sister did, and there’s no fighting warfare like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The way Maya looks at him for a brief moment, the way he is forced to meet her eyes, the air rises in his throat, tries to force him to retract his rejection. But he clamps his jaw down and bites on his tongue to keep himself from speaking, he has to keep his sister alive, that’s his only mission, secretly. The walls of the office seem to shrink around him, the atmosphere they had created already made him feel claustrophobic, but the thought of having to kill his own sister made him wish for the ceiling to finally collapse on top of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t about whether you can or can’t, Gabe, you have to. If they do find me, they will use me as a pawn if they don’t kill me first, and I need to know that you won’t let them use me as leverage, no matter the cost.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wants to breathe, but there’s a concrete block weighing down on his chest that’s stopping him. He doesn’t feel himself moving, he doesn’t even feel himself thinking, but he does feel his face against the rough fabric of his sister’s shirt being soaked with tears. He does feel the dull strain in his arms as they wrap themselves around his Maya. He does feel the beat of his heart against his ribs threatening to make him burst, weap, and plead with her not to ask this of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya startles for a moment, but she does hold him. Her hand slowly ruffles his hair and she sways gently, rolling on the balls of her feet to calm them, like they are children again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to make sure you come home, that we come home, for </span>
  <b>Abeoji</b>
  <span>.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maya snaps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both rarely spoke Korean anymore, even when they were alone together. It was too intimate, too heavy a reminder of their home. They hadn’t spoken to their father in years, not since they had been separated as refugees from The Storm, but they had promised each other that they would go home to find their father and rebuild their lives when their war was finally over. They had the right to be a family again, whether they wanted it or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>“I will come home with you, Ji-Hwan, but whether I’m walking with you or being carried by you in a box is not for you to decide.” </b>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas has to accept his duty now. He knows Maya is right, no matter how badly he wants to eject her. The Storm has to end, no matter the cost, and they will die painful deaths before Shadow allows them to do so. He knows that if one of them must die for their cause it will have been worth it. Maya has always been right to him, he has always known that she was the soul to save them all, and if it was his order to kill her to the world around them, then it would become his duty. </span>
</p><p>
  <b>“Okay.”</b>
  
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <b>4 Days Later</b>
</p><p>
  <span>High pitched ringing fills Midas’ ears. Dust and debris scatters in his path as Shadow bullets rain down on them. Soldiers cover his back with the enclosure of shields as Brutus follows him from behind to protect him. Everything in him feels heavy and loose, he doesn’t remember dropping the gun. Air refuses to enter his lungs, and a void begins to eat him from the inside out. The heavy hand on his back pushes him down flights of stairs, through doors, through the sea of people being rocked and thrown against the walls of the corridors as the shelling started. The screams are meaningless in Midas’ mind for a minute, the whistling of the shells went straight through him, his eye was still blinded by the vision of Maya falling to the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The corridors narrowed, and the people thinned out. Brutus gently pushed him through the heavy bunker doorway, cranking the door shut behind them. The door had barely locked into place before Midas was grabbed by his shoulders and thrown against the wall. He was still too in shock to really react to Skye holding him down with her arm pressed against his chest, and still couldn’t even manage to flinch as she pulled her small pink blade out from her inside jacket pocket and began to raise it to his throat. Fortunately for him, Brutus stepped up swiftly and pulled her wrist back, grabbing the blade through a gloved hand to disarm her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span> is wrong with you?” Skye screamed, trying to lash back against Brutus in an attempt to strike Midas in any way she could, be it scratch him or all-out strangle him to death. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skye!” Brutus yelled, pulling her away as he continued to restrain her. “Stand down!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye finally stopped struggling, and gave in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’d better have a fucking good explanation for the shit you just pulled, Gabe; you know we have the right to oust you for that.” Skye hissed, and she was certainly right. Command automatically fell to Midas upon Maya’s death, but in matters of leadership, especially in times of crisis, senior officers had a democratic vote. If Skye wanted Midas gone, she had a good chance of making it happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas turned silently, and began walking to his office silently; well, what would’ve been Maya’s office. The bunker offices were much smaller, but with good reason. The ground vibrated under him as he walked, and the row of lights ahead of him flickered with the greatest of the explosions above ground. There was no telling what The Agency was going to look like in a few hours. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabriel?” Brutus called sternly, him and Skye following Midas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas lifted the case on the bulky computer that sat on the desk in Maya’s office. They were heavy and unconventional, but they would have to be able to withstand some serious heat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you just going to igno-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you just </span>
  <em>
    <span>listen</span>
  </em>
  <span> for a second?” Midas said, scowling at Skye as he pushed the computer around to face them. Pressing space, an audio file began to play. It was from four days prior, and Maya spoke. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is Senior Field Commander Kim Sang-Mi, codename Maya, field callsign Anthem. On the condition of my death, I hereby leave these instructions to whomever is in my position. To immediately fill my position I appoint Senior Base Commander Kim Ji-Hwan, codename Midas, field callsign Harmony; and in the following position I advise Paolo Brutus Moretti, field callsign Justinian. In accordance with Rescue Mission Briefing JG-7274, if I am taken prisoner by enemy forces, Kim Ji-Hwan has execute authority over me in order to uphold our Final Mission by any means necessary. In the event that this is enacted, Kim Ji-Hwan and all those involved will not face court martial or a leadership vote on this condi-”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye sighed loudly as Midas stopped the tape; she turned to the wall behind her, resting her forehead on her arm before taking a moment to breathe deeply again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” She said, shrugging her arms by her sides. “I guess this is a thing now. Any other fucking insane ideas you’d like to tell me about? Or do I not get to be a part of this little suicide club, hmm?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas was still completely numb, he was too busy focusing on simply staring down at the notches in the wood of the desk to stop himself from vomiting to answer her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skye…” Brutus began gently, but she was already slamming the door shut. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas felt like he was running a marathon, but he couldn’t move. His entire body was numb and freezing, and he was entirely out of control. He gripped the edges of the desk, trying anything he had the ability to in order to force his lungs to take on air, but everything around him swelled, and choked him further. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maya</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brutus is in front of his eye, but it does not see him. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Anthem. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Sweat is soaking his clothes, but he’s too cold to move. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Execution. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas wants the world to turn dark, for the lights in his mind to burn out. The pain of constantly seeing his sister collapse at his hand is scorching his mind, righteous or not. There had to have been another way, another plan, another mission that had even the tiniest chance of bringing her back alive. But now he had no way to ever return home with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brutus knows Midas is having a panic attack, but there’s very little he can do. There’s nothing that he can respond to, and even in the midst of the artillery strike he will just have to wait by his side for the worst of Midas’ unimaginable pain to be over. He watches as a sprinkling of dust falls onto Midas’ shoulder from the ceiling panel above; at least, he prays that it’s dust, rather than the top of the bunker cracking open from the heavy shelling. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he decides, </span>
  <em>
    <span>it’s just dust. </span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Even this disturbance doesn’t register with Midas. He snaps, and collapses into the chair behind him, gasping for air. Brutus is right there with him as pain immediately begins to surge through his body as time speeds up again, and his senses are suddenly assaulted by everything around him, the walls of the room still closing in on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gabe!” Brutus calls, kneeling in front of him, taking his hands and squeezing them rhythmically to ground him. “It’s over, you did your duty.” </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Memento Mori</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Is this the beginning of the end?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you would like to follow this along with the music I used to write this, begin listening to Evacuation by Hildur Guðnadóttir when you read 'The whistle of bullets'.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What the actual fuck was that?” Tina yelled, following her leader through to a reinforced room; their office for now. Chaos Agent did not answer, he simply sat down at the long table, staring at her silently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it that you expect me to say?” He asked, a little too calmly for her comfort. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know? Something that acknowledges that we might not get to The Device as easily as you anticipated?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos Agent simply pressed his hands together, and made the sound of a deep breath, though Tina questioned whether he actually did breathe at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what makes you say that?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina felt like she was going insane. How was he not concerned?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Am I the only one who just saw what fucking happened?” She looked back for a moment as Meowscles entered the room, having momentarily excused himself to clean the blood from his fur. “We just watched Midas kill </span>
  <em>
    <span>his own sister</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and nobody else thinks that shit is a little fucked up, even for him?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meowscles stood besides her, opposing Chaos Agent. He was equally concerned about what had just happened, if not more so simply because his relationship with Midas had been far different from the one Tina had had. He knew he had killed Lynx, yes, but his own sister? That was too much to believe. Had they caught some kind of double? Was Midas truly a more harrowing man than either of them could have imagined? Even in the name of saving all life on earth, this was uncharacteristically bold. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not to mention that we just lost our main bargaining chip that doesn’t have a warhead attached to it.” He added. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chaos Agent seemed to concede. He reached under his chin, and a mild depressurising hiss was emitted from the seal of his mask. He lifted it off, placing it neatly on the table in front of them as the spiraling black liquid that made him up began to slowly drip away into the air around them. He stood up calmly, approaching them from the other side of the desk he seemed to slither through the atmosphere. He stood inches away from Tina’s face, threatening her to stay perfectly still, as though that would somehow help her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two sure that you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> here for The Device, for our cause? Because if you intend on using my power to strengthen your personal fights, I can assure you that I,” he takes a glove off, revealing a fistful of the black liquid billowing out from under his sleeve, “will not be so kind.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tina forces herself to take a step backwards. She turns to make a beeline for the door behind her, but the feeling of her wrist being held in place makes her freeze. The feeling is cold, and fluid, yet somehow dry; the pressure of being at the bottom of the ocean floor clamping down on her forearm. She feels the ripples in the grip move along her skin, making her shudder. She can only wonder if she will even have the chance to give herself the painless death she wants. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think carefully, soldier, actions measure the heart.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Late that night, a small boat leaves the edge of the island from the old shanty town. Nobody tries to stop it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Deep underneath The Agency, Midas looked into the small mirror on the backdoor of his sister’s office. When he and Maya had joined EGO all those years ago they had joined as scientists with combat training. EGO otherwise permitted officers to wear what they pleased, and it was good for them to have the clothes of their own sciences to wear. He could not have imagined truly having to wear this uniform again. He hasn’t grown out of his combat uniform, it just feels foreign to wear it without Maya at his side. Anti-gas lycra goes beneath a short battle tunic that does up at the front to make a wounded wearer easily treatable, which goes beneath a flexible bulletproof vest, insignias and patches on the outside with plenty of pockets. Everyone has at least one knife on them. Midas’ knife attaches to his lower back, so that he might pull it out from behind him. Maya wore hers on her left arm, pulling it forwards to release it for a quick fight. The boots and helmet are heavy, but he knows that any part of the uniform might be what saves him from a bullet or blast. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye and Brutus all have similar uniforms, with only slight variations to fight their combat styles. Skye still held her rifle against her shoulder, like she was about to go on parade. Midas couldn’t help but think to himself that Skye was far too young to be doing this fighting, to hold a gun and die for a cause, but they were all too young to be dying in battle, they always would be. He considered telling her to stay below with The Device, but he knew she would never agree to being kept out of harm’s way under the guise of being the last line of defence. No. They would fight together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gap in the shelling came at sunrise. Midas told himself that even Shadow had to rest, but that was a lie. Chaos Agent wanted theatrics, a noble last stand, and defining moment that the world could report as the fall of Ghost. Emerging out of the bunker after not seeing sunlight for two days was jarring to say the least, but not nearly as jarring as seeing the few walls of The Agency left barely standing. Most of the eastern offices had been blown open, as tough as the architecture was, and very little of the main building was still standing beyond the staircase and pieces of the westernmost wall. It was enough to keep fighting, and enough to protect The Device as it continued to charge. Midas just had to buy time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Boats were lined up on the opposing shores, this was no doubt going to be a beach assault. Shields were in place, walls were being propped up; Midas watched as Brutus talked with an engineer about whether it would be better to blow out the walls on their own terms as opposed to risking getting crushed by them. Skye was talking to some of the soldiers in her section, many of whom were older than she was; she generally defaulted strategy to someone else despite technically being in charge, it was easier that way. She was a zoologist, not a general. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Laying behind their makeshift barricades, they waited. This was not going to be like anything they had rehearsed. The Agency could take hits, yes, but not of this magnitude. As he sat shoulder to shoulder with his troops, Midas could stare out into the sky and remind himself of what was to come. There would be deaths. Hundreds, maybe thousands, even. He still wasn’t sure how many troops Shadow had, but he certainly felt outnumbered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon, the boats fired up, the scraping rush of boots began, and the whir of heavy guns started again. This is the beginning of the end. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The whistling of bullets was the anthem of battle, and the sight of open mouths crying for relief was the harmony of combat. Blinding flashes were the fireworks of the show that illuminated the dying skies, and cut through the thick smoke of burning flames and clouds of dust and gas to shine light on terrified young faces, both sides believing that they were supposed to fight for a better world. Hot burns mixed with the cold pale faces of those dropping their rifles, and falling underfoot. Comfort came in the form of a heart still beating, and being able to bleed, patch, and keep moving.   </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the shells had fallen, and the magazines began to run dry, the sun set on the battlefield. There was never a moment to stop, to find solace or to take a sip of water. When the sun began to rise again the following day, Midas found himself alive, as though the universe believed that nothing extraordinary had happened that night. The bruises meant nothing, and the bullet grazes meant little. He knelt on layers of crushed concrete as a fire burned itself out behind him, wordlessly suturing a moderately deep wound on Skye’s shoulder. Soldiers and medics continued to move around them, pushing back rubble and picking up their fallen comrades. They were all too exhausted to have any sense of what was happening around them, the screams had died to them hours ago, the burn in their muscles and the strain in their eyes had long since been ignored. Whatever feeling that was left in Midas’ body slipped away as the clouds quickly turned grey to shield the sun from seeing the sight they had created, and it began to rain. He conceded, finally taking off his helmet and letting the chill of the raindrops wake him up again, if not by almost giving him the feeling that he was drowning on land. All words escaped him as Brutus brought him under his arm, sitting together in the shakily standing staircase near the bunker. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minutes passed as the rain fell, water pooling in bomb craters around them. Midas’ couldn’t bear to be seen simply dissociating, fading into nothingness. He untucked himself from under Brutus’ arm, absentmindedly leaving a kiss on his cheek, devoid of love, and began to climb what was left of the stairs. He would have to pray that whatever ceasefire Chaos Agent had seemingly decided would last long enough for him to survive climbing up the cracked steps, hair sticking to his face in the rain. As he reached the top, he felt winded, the breakdown of everything around him sucked every force of life from him, or so he thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas looked down towards the large patch of grass, near the front of The Agency, in the direction of the farmlands. Rather, it had been grass the last time he had seen it, days ago now. The grass was gone, upturned to serve a new purpose. Small groups of soldiers moved along the muddy shore, trudging along with shovels, and exhaustedly digging down. The deep rectangular hole they left in their wake was slowly being filled up behind them with the bodies of their comrades. A pool of white and grey uniforms began to slowly rise in the ground, as an officer stood to the side with a notebook, noting down the number of every soldier and scientist, every friend, so that they might be found again. Blood and rain trickled through the piles, painting every face a sickly red, one after another. But that was for those who still had faces to paint. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Midas stopped breathing for a moment. The wave of uniforms was interrupted by a glimpse of pink, one that was all too familiar to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jara. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>It had barely registered with him hours ago when someone had screamed that the roof of the medical wing had caved in, and suddenly every sound and bullet and blur of dust raced back into his head at once; a scream catching in his throat as he tried to release his pain in any way he could. The pink roots of her hair stood out, though much of her chest and shoulders were burnt and emaciated, bandages and pyjamas sodden with blood and thick brick dust. Her eyes were still open, looking up towards the clouds, meeting Midas’ for a second longer than he could bear to see that lifelessness haunting his very soul. He was losing this battle, and it wasn’t even over yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could only grab onto the railing of the stairs, white-knuckled, and pray to God that there was some kind of absolution waiting for him, or mercy waiting for his comrades. This could not be his legacy; his failure to protect the people he had sworn to defend what was left of humanity with. The feeling of Brutus’ hand on his shoulder almost made his heart burst. Shaking, he forced himself to turn away from the mass grave, and walk back down to the desolate earth. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Deliver us. </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't forget to leave kudos if you made it this far! It motivates me a lot!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Museum of the Future</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Skye doesn’t like that Maya is dead, but she’ll have to deal with it.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I’m so sorry this has taken about 400 years I’m dealing with some long-term medical shit and writing is just hhhhhhhhhh while in pain</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Skye’s team had suffered the most casualties. It was only being at the front of the line that caused this, but she couldn’t help but feel that she was personally responsible. She had survived, while they had not. She stared into her MRE, and felt the curry staring back at her as she relived the scrapes along her left side, being thrown by a mortar blast was like that. She had let Gabriel patch her up, not just to save the medics time, but mostly to save face. She was not a leader. Winning her trial was nice and all, but it was far from a marginally logical way to pick officers. She wished she wasn’t in this position. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At this point Skye wanted to think about literally anything else, and as nature would have it, her brain settled on the worse possible option. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She simply had to accept that it was arranged, and that Gabriel couldn’t and wouldn’t suffer the consequences of killing a fellow officer. Lenora would simply be marked as KIA and everything would move on like it wasn’t all as fucked up as she believed. That was provided any of them even survived to tell the tale. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye worried that the idea had been someone else’s proposal, that Lenora had been forced into sacrificing herself for the sake of removing a card from the table. There was no question that she was dedicated to their cause, and dying for it was something they had each already signed up for. She had been trained by Lenora, jumped with her during her final test, and listened to her words as she leant on her as she hobbled back to their ride off the test site. Patience was all Lenora had for her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>2 Years Ago </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ten years down the line Lenora found herself sitting in the jump seat of the same plane she had been in as a mere young soldier. This time she was sat at the front of the line, as a senior officer, leading the jump. A lot had changed since her final test. EGO was getting desperate, and everyone knew it. They were constantly in demand for new officers and better soldiers, some rumoured that High Command would sooner turn the whole agency into a paramilitary squad and abandon all hopes of killing The </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Storm with science all together. They had changed the rules of the final trials to suit their needs in replacing the leaders they kept losing faster than they could replace; but resilience or ruthlessness did not necessarily make for talented leaders, and many divisions were beginning to suffer. But Lenora did what she had to. See through two weeks with these young fighters and scientists, some still teenagers, and she could get back to the climatology department, what was left of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The test had been altered, both in rules and in play. The last duo standing could take the officers’ exam immediately, and most did. Soldiers were encouraged to sabotage each other, shoot, and fight. Lenora knew it wasn’t live fire, but it hurt close enough. Her higher ups had told her that nobody had died, yet; she wasn’t sure if she believed them. The new drop areas were equally as ruthless. Before, everyone had the same expectations, and plenty of ways to tap out. Now there was a real risk of dying from dehydration or infection. It was meant to weed out the weak before Shadow got the chance, it seemed. So much for being scientists. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She unwrapped the rubber band from around her notebook one last time and looked down her lists. She had read the evaluations for every one of the soldiers on the dropship, and some of them terrified her. Some definitely seemed to fit High Command’s new idea of a fighter, and some were definitely the scientists they were supposed to be. She looked down right to the end of the row jump seats, to a tiny young woman with light brown hair. Lenora had been meaning to watch out for her, because if anyone was going to die this round, the instructors seemed to unanimously decide it would be her. Petra Ivanovic, callsign Skye, was a brilliant zoologist by any means, but it would take this ultimate test to find out if she was truly cut out for the fight against Shadow. Lenora stopped herself. Now she was thinking like her superiors. Too much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye looked like she had already seen a war zone. Nobody ever got deployed to active battlegrounds until after their final test, but being asked to clear a bombed out city of creatures had been a lot for a training exercise. She stared off into the metal bulkhead across from her, avoiding the gazes of her comrades. Despite the efforts of her instructors, she had clearly heard about the brutality of the new tests. Skye didn’t know if she was prepared for such tribulation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora was sweating as the door opened, lights on and preparing for the jump. The sun was rising on the horizon below them, causing the sea of sand to shimmer. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fucking desert. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone was going to die out there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reaching the end of the line, Lenora practically had to push Skye out of the plane. She couldn’t blame her for not wanting to drop into an unforgiving hell. Skye’s duo was another young woman, with long dark hair and a neck full of colourful tattoos that undoubtedly continued under her jumpsuit. Lenora would have to hope that she would be able to carry the brunt necessary for them to survive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next two weeks saw Lenora riddled with anxiety for her students. Even by the end of the first week three participants had been medevaced, two for dehydration and one for infection. It would be at least six months before they would be allowed to take the test again, but that would be the least of their concerns. Lenora would hesitate to admit that she was surprised when Skye and her partner had shown up early to the checkpoint, she was only too happy to reward them with clean water and a place in the shade until they would have to move on to the next checkpoint. Though there were supply caches stashed along the roots, in dried up wells and under collapsed tents, even Lenora found the deliberate lack of any kind of protection from the sun to be cruel; unsurprisingly, the sunburns she saw as the days progressed looked torturous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The final checkpoint brought the students to the remnants of a village that had been shelled, long before the storm. It hurt to see this be turned into a staging ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the final day the winds began to pick up, and Lenora knew the remaining participants would be struggling for air, never mind visibility. Ripping up whatever bit of their jumpsuits they were still wearing was to be encouraged in this weather, if they made it out of shelter at all. The sky seemed to get dark late in the morning, at which point only about half of the remaining students had made it through. By the end of the two weeks most had worked out that it was best to travel at night, using the stars to decipher their navigation packs in the languages they could barely read. This was all whilst they had to fight over resources with each other; not great for a bunch of people that would have real guns and real battles to fight together in a matter of weeks from now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some students trickled in with bullet wounds, stabs, and scrapes. The fight to make it through the final stretch wasn’t just against the elements. Out of those that hadn’t medevaced in the last thirteen days, and the one student that straight up quit, there were two duos left to count with thirty minutes to the deadline at sundown. Lenora looked down the list. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye and Jules. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There had been no distress beacon. None of the students that were sitting with her in the shelled out house in the middle of the village had reported seeing the duo since the last checkpoint. The seconds ticked down into the darkness, and Lenora began to wonder how much of a protocol violation it would be to pick up a torch and at least search the edge of the village for the two duos. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay here.” She said, though it was more of a suggestion than an order. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gravel crunched against stone as Lenora stepped out into the moonlight. In a moment of realisation she pulled her scarf and goggles over her face as sand scraped against her skin. Wind whistled through empty doorways and broken windows, screaming quietly around her ears, beckoning her to the edge of the structures. A light flickered over the edge of one of the dunes; it was small enough for Lenora to almost miss it, but it waved wildly enough for her to take notice. The blue light rocked back and forth frantically over the sand, meaning someone was running with it. She stepped out from behind the structure, holding the torch above her head to beckon the runner. Quickly, another light appeared atop the dune, and the duo began to make their way to Lenora, trudging through the winds and sands. Until a third light shone on the ground from behind them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora was quick to press herself against the crumbling concrete of the house before falling to the floor, adjusting her goggles as a bullet ricocheted off the side of the building very near to where she had been standing. These two teams could have just gotten to the final checkpoint with minutes to spare, but someone wasn’t going without a fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Choose your fucking battles, kid.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Neither of the final two duos had activated a distress beacon, but one was definitely missing a member. Lenora stood up and tried to move quickly against the wind; this was against the rules, but someone was getting unhinged. One light was thrown to the ground, tumbling down the dune with the rifle it was attached to. The wind muffled the shouts as she tried to keep her eyes on the wrestling figures, but it was clear that Jules was trying to pull one the other duo off of Skye. Lenora had meant to watch for the other duo, Torres was perfectly harmless, but some instructors had told her to watch for Mitchell. A physicist without a passion for the stars, he certainly read far more as the fighter type that High Command claimed to be in need of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora finally managed to drag herself through the storm only to find something from the stage unfolding in front of her, but it was very real. Mitchell was barely standing, but held Skye against him, a shard of glass pressed under her jaw; as opposed to the plentiful and less lethal weapons the testing grounds provided. Her first thought was that this stunt would surely get him arrested, but after a moment she realised that probably wouldn’t happen, even if he did kill Skye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mitchell!” She yelled, shining her light in his eyes, her hand on the pistol at her side. “Stand down!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jules, just go!” Skye shouted, trying desperately to keep her footing on the dune. “If you run now you can still make the time!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jules simply looked between her and Lenora; she wanted to pass as much as anyone else, but this was different. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not witho-“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I die we both die, and even if I only lose he still fails too. Just go, at least we can say we got 50%, right?” She offered a terrified smile, and Jules ran for the tent. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was good of you to do that, Petra. As far as I’m concerned you achieved your objectives.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye forced a smile, staring down at her boots as the dropship began to lift off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, ma’am, but I still didn’t make the time.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you did everything else you were supposed to do; you stayed with your team, you stayed alive, and you completed the trial. I say that Mitchell not playing by the rules shouldn’t cause you to be set back. What are the objectives of E.G.O.?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye sighed, sitting up and tapping the back of her head against the edge of the rest that she was just a little too short to comfortably meet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First objective: work as one unit, even when we are all apart. Second objective: stop The Storm. Third objective: protect the people.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did all of those things. Especially the first objective. You worked together with Jules to reach your goal and you still achieved it by recognising when it was better for you to make a sacrifice as opposed for both of you to fail. Progress demands sacrifice sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skye was silent for at least a full minute before she turned to look at her commanding officer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you have done the same? Give up your place for someone else to uphold the mission?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lenora wasn’t sure how to answer. She was expected to sacrifice herself if necessary to stop The Storm, they all were; but she wasn’t sure that it was right for Skye to believe that she should have let Mitchell slit her throat over a test. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything we’re doing right now is a battle of attrition. You and your opponent both losing something might sometimes work out better if it eliminates the risk of them benefiting. You have to pick your fights, but yes. If </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>sacrifices mean that we break The Storm, they will have been worth it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye would be sure to remember this. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Planned Obsolescence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I’m probably gonna edit this later I just wasn’t sure what to do with it</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Skye slammed the door to the tiny office behind her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just know, I don’t like this, probably just as much as you do; but I’m going to accept it.” She said, her back pressed against the door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel still had his head in his hands, his elbows on the desk, as Brutus held a hand to his shoulder. Skye’s heart sank a little when he looked up. He’d been crying again. The single lightbulb barely clinging to the ceiling did very little to shine light on any of them; it only made him look like an exhausted creature, starved out and defeat in his sunken eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like I can ask much more of you.” He sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He cleared a gap at the front of the tiny desk for her to better see the map that was laid out between them. It was topographic, and had water currents highlighted by time of night. Skye could already see where this was going; Gabe and Brutus were going to make her leave the island so that they could fight alone. She wondered if it was because they were guilty about losing Lenora, or if this had always been their plan; to push her out of harm’s way when she needed to be there to defend them the most. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you’re asking me to leave?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I haven’t even said anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re still gonna try to get me off the front line because you’re too scared of me getting hurt. I’m an officer too, you know!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel flinched a little, and ran his hair back through his fingers. A little concrete dust from the ceilings fell onto his shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If Lenora were here, yeah, I probably would’ve done that. But I need you to do something different this time. The Device isn’t charged yet; the calculations are pretty much done and the AI is responding as it should, but we still have one problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chaos is gonna get to it before it can fire?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye groaned a little, her head hitting the back of the thin door as she stared blankly at the ceiling, wishing for a miracle of some kind that she knew wasn’t coming. Brutus moved to sit on the tiny couch opposite her; there was barely even space for that in the bunker, never mind the three of them together, and moving to other positions in the hopes of finding a way that didn’t feel claustrophobic was becoming a familiar routine. He never looked at either of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All we need to do is find a weakness, something we can exploit; or at least use to draw their fire while it charges.” He said, finally looking up to give Skye a painful split second of eye contact. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So everyone else can make a run for it?” She asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel seemed to crumple into a heap on his desk, tapping his heel anxiously against the floor. Skye began to piece the puzzle together. She had known that their odds were bad, and that the brutality of the fighting was far from over; but she hadn’t done anything but assume that ultimately Gabriel would try to evacuate the island, even at the cost of himself. The realisation of what he was about to ask of anyone who was left was startlingly macabre. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait a second; you’re not about to ask everyone to throw themselves to the guns, right? Just to get more time? I mean, I know this shit isn’t going well but…” she trailed off. The rising water in her eyes felt as though it was turning to acid. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel finally met her eyes. He looked cold, frozen solid even. Skye had seen him be hopeful about bad odds before, but all she could feel for him was just a clawing helpless anger. This was different; something else was at stake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not even sure if it’s going to work, are you?” She snapped, though quietly, lunging towards the desk and resting her hands on it as she glared over him. He never reacted, in fact Skye wasn’t sure that he even blinked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We don’t have a choice, Skye.” Brutus said. She was surprised that he hadn’t tried to pull her away this time. Her palms were hot against the wooden desk, and she was becoming more aware of how close to erratic she was by this stage. “There isn’t another Device out there, not on the mainland, not anywhere. This really is our only chance. That’s why we need you to find us a weakness. We need more time.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye hung her head, her hair beginning to tumble gracelessly out of her hat after days of being kept stuffed under it; greasy after days of fighting it stuck to her clammy forehead. She didn’t bother to do anything about it, much less move to look at him. She simply felt too worked up at that point to apply thought anymore. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did you have in mind?” </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>————————————————————-</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Captain Louis Ancel would never have said that he fought for the right reasons, even though he knew as such. He had fared well during his time with EGO, but ultimately, Shadow paid better after the split. He cared more about how much protection he could offer his family on the mainland; money means time if you have enough of it, but the throbbing in his head was telling him that he wasn’t getting paid enough to deal with some things. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nobody had really hurt him while he’d been in this dark little room, though, he was still waterlogged and exhausted from two straight days of fighting. He wasn’t sure what he would kill for first, a nap or a hot shower, or even to just be uncuffed from the steel table he had been left with. Either way, he wasn’t getting either of those things particularly quickly. The door in front of him swung open with a loud smack against the concrete wall, making him flinch from the pain in his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A girl walked in; fatigues tied around her waist with a green hoodie over the top, with an animal ear hat to match. The dim light made her difficult to read, but her frustration was obvious in the large sledgehammer she hauled behind her. This didn’t look like someone who was old enough to be fighting him, or at all. He didn’t think Ghost was quite so desperate as to start having children fight for them, but Shadow had literally made them retreat into the earth. Her demeanor said she was exhausted; she looked over her shoulder momentarily, like she expected someone to follow her. She sheepishly closed the heavy door behind her, careful to quiet about it, like she regretted making her harsh entrance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Captain Ancel,” hardly the greeting he’d expected, “I’m going to make this very simple. I’m sure you know what we’re sitting on top of right now, and I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck in here when it goes off, yes? So,” she sat on the edge of the table across from him, staring over into his eyes, “start talking.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancel wanted to laugh. Ghost were hardly sending their best. This girl standing in front of him could barely hold her act together and the toughness her commander had instilled in her five minutes ago was beginning to crumble.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or else what? You’re going to ask nicely?” He grinned at her smugly, fully expecting a punch to the face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To his amazement, she finally managed to handle the hammer into her hands and raise it above her head. He grimaced, expecting the worse, but nearly jumped out of his cuffs as she slammed it down onto the microphone in the middle of the table. The recorder popped out of the steel, splitting into pieces with a satisfying crunch. Skye continued to smash the microphone, and Ancel watched her crawl under the table, using the hammer to beat out the bugs stuck to the bottom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Or else when the clock hits midnight you will have run out of time to warn people on the Western Mainland that the shockwave and fallout is going to cause irreparable damage to the land. Buildings will collapse and the grid will go out and there is not a whole lot anyone is going to be able to do to protect themselves once it happens.” Skye said, her eyes beginning to glaze over as she pulled herself out from under the table and paced back and forth between Ancel and the door, tapping her knuckles together nervously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancel wanted to remain suspect. He was just a captain, and he had no reason to believe that he had a way out, or a reason to trust her. But the thought of his family, his girls, out on the coast of the Western Mainland with no idea what was coming? After all he had fought for to keep the fighting away from them? Now he was about to watch this young Ghost officer lose her head and in mind as part of an insane plan that would get them both killed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck it.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you know I’m from the Western Mainland?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Saw your name and took a guess.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was fair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you acting like you want to help me? Especially if it’s your own agency that wants to drop buildings on people; I thought this whole plan of yours was about ‘saving lives’, or whatever.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye slipped off the table and sighed as she sat down in the chair opposite him to face him properly. Her weak content delivered a harrowing message to him in the form of pure helplessness. It was simply about being the bearer of bad news, it was about participating in something she knew was wrong. The single light above their heads made her eyes look sunken with despair, and momentarily she reached out for his hand, but withdrew herself into her chair for a second, before snapping. Ancel watched her begin uncuffing him hurriedly. Someone would soon notice that the microphones were out of action and come running. Skye had to be genuine if she was willing to risk this much for an enemy soldier that she certainly didn’t know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My family is on the Western Mainland too.” She said shakily. “I know that in theory we should be willing to make sacrifices of the few to save the many, but this feels like too much. This isn’t what I agreed to. We all get out or we all lose.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye reached back out and took Ancel’s hand in hers, squeezing desperately as she stared into the cold steel table, almost catatonic with abject fear. She had slowed down, paralysed by fear of the plan she didn’t have. He tapped his feet against the floor, thumping fear rising in his chest. They weren’t moving fast enough, but he couldn’t think of a way out; only of ways that any idea he had would end up in both of them getting killed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If </span>
  <em>
    <span>we</span>
  </em>
  <span> warn them together; I mean… Midas won’t fire on us, I’m pretty sure about that. But Chaos Agent will do fuck knows what if he sees us, right?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancel couldn’t look back at her. He was pretty sure that Midas would still kill them, but at least it wouldn’t be much more than a simple gunshot wound. That was a much more favourable way to go, he decided. But Chaos Agent? That was another story. They would have to draw him away, or go somewhere he couldn’t follow them. It wasn’t going to be as simple as sneaking away. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think,” he hesitated, “something about The Storm, makes him… how do you say? On edge? He becomes shaky and tired and slow. He is weak. That is why he wants to control it himself so badly, then he will never have to worry about being near him.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye met his gaze, puzzled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So if we steal a ride out of here, and sail against The Storm, he won't chase us?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ancel wanted to protest, it would never be that simple, but she grabbed his hand, helping him up and rushing towards the door. But as they ran they were met by a clatter of boots from the other side; they were just in time to get caught, it seemed. Skye’s face was now bathed in light to him. Ancel’s mind rushed, raced in a hundred and one directions about how his life was about to end, without a chance to warn anyone of what was coming. He never had a chance of him getting back to the Western Mainland, with or without this officer defecting with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean, maybe. Possibly? I’m not sure. It’s just my best guess; I just know he certainly gets more nervous about it than the rest of us, and that is saying something, yes?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The heavy door swung open again. Ancel only raised his hands just in time to stop the door from completely breaking his nose, but he still fell to the hard concrete floor in pain, the force of the handle to his torso winding him. He was blinded by the harsh light as he looked up, the silhouette of a Ghost officer staring down their sights at him blocking some of the glare. This was it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked over to Skye, the other officer was pulling her up. He watched anxiously, waiting for her to cross them, punch them, pick him up and run, make an excuse, </span>
  <em>
    <span>something. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A pit formed in his stomach as she walked over to him, dragging the sledgehammer behind her, scraping it loudly along the ground. Her brow furrowed, and her eyes were dead. This was an act, he was sure of it. She couldn’t have gone through with tearing through the room without expecting resistance. Any second now they could run.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Captain, you were too desperate this time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skye hauled the hammer up to rest on her shoulder. Ultimately, this man had chosen the wrong side; the side that sought only to serve the whims of a manic entity who thrived off the suffering of others. Maybe Captain Ancel was noble at heart, maybe he just wanted to survive, but Skye wasn’t there to find out. He was one pawn left behind, and if she had learnt anything that week, it was not to leave loose ends. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel didn’t, and Lenora wouldn’t have let her. Skye had to pick up that torch for her now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sorry.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please R&amp;R!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Don't forget to leaves comments and kudos if you want to read more!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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